CYPRUS AIRWAYS Chairman Lazaros Savvides last night confirmed a meeting scheduled between the national carrier’s board and pilots’ union PASIPY had been rescheduled for next week, after the pilots were kept waiting for over an hour.
The meeting, which had been scheduled for 5.30pm at the company’s head office, was delayed after a meeting with Eurocypria ran over, said Savvides. Having waited around for about an hour the pilots started to leave, he said.
“We decided to reschedule the meeting for 3pm next Monday,” he told the Cyprus Mail.
The two sides are at loggerheads over their different interpretations of what was agreed under the rescue plan to save the airline. Just over 10 days ago pilots held a four-hour work stoppage to bully management into capitulating to their demands, but failed.
The purpose of yesterday’s meeting had been to reach a solution agreeable to all parties to ensure the smooth running of the airline. However both the Communication and Finance Ministers had made it clear any decisions made regarding wages would not be breached.
Meanwhile earlier in the day PASYPI representative Tassos Christofides warned the board there would be consequences if reports it was studying the possibility of transferring one of its aircraft to Hellas Jet went ahead.
Speaking on national radio, Christofides said the board should take its thoughts no further otherwise the pilots’ reaction would be “forceful”.
The transfer of one of the airline’s planes to its loss-making Athens-based subsidiary, Hellas Jet, was like a red flag to a bull, he said.
Christofides said: “Let’s not forget Hellas Jet is the company which had us by the throat. We lost £40 million… I don’t know why Hellas Jet has reappeared to the forefront when it has been sold on paper… Let us learn if it has been sold or not.”
Savvides said the longer there were delays in implementing the restructuring plan, the more alternative solutions the board would look for.
He said: “I think a proper board of directors should discuss (various solutions), but this does not necessarily mean that whatever it discusses will be decided upon.”
